KU BS programme mid term examinations postponed

KU BS programme victim of internal squabbling
Karachi, Mar 03: The bachelor of Studies (BS) programme that began at the University of Karachi (KU) in 2007 with much fanfare and claims of enhancing standards and bringing a vast array of diverse subjects to the students has become a victim of a lack of planning and will on behalf of the administration to implement it.

The internal squabble between the Semester Section and the deans surfaced on Saturday, hastening the deans to announce postponement of the 'Mid Term Examinations' on Monday (March 2). The announcement was vague and gave no reasons for the abrupt step taken by the deans. The sources say that it was done to avoid a direct confrontation with the Students Alliance, an umbrella of nine student parties excluding All Pakistan Muttahida Students Organisation (APMSO) on the question of raising the passing marks from 40 to 50 marks.

KU Registrar, Prof. Rais Alvi said that the postponement was an effort on part of the university to avoid deterioration in law and order situation that looked imminent in the background of students' agitation. "The Vice Chancellor is not in the university and we had no other option other than delaying examinations," he explained.

A senior professor at the university said that "The BS programme was a non-starter as the Academic Council had accepted it without deliberating its pros and cons. The BS Committee comprising Prof. Saleem Memon, Dr Faheemuddin and Dr Junaid Sagheer Siddiqui were not acquainted with the BS programme's methodology. The Committee was supported by pro-Jamaat teachers and Barkati Group. The programme was incomplete, conflicts within (the programme) and problems continued to emerge. The result was issuance of frequent notifications, corrections and amendments that created confusion among the students and the teachers."

The deans felt that their turf was taken by the BS Committee and the latter was not authorised for issuing notifications. A number of issues in the programme were either not defined clearly or not communicated properly. This resulted in teachers filing results based on old passing marks that in turn were rejected by the Semester Section. The deans' offices pressurised the Semester Section to send them results for correction. Chaos ensued as according to new process, students had to run after their course in-charges to get their signature after correction of marks. The results of the previous year are still being corrected.

Meanwhile, the Students Alliance that is protesting against the BS programme, calling it 'Baybus' (helpless) programme, is dominated by Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (IJT) but Peoples Students Federation (PSF) is also a part of it. Some analysts in the KU are of the opinion that the agitation is to embarrass Pakistan People's Party (PPP) in ongoing tussle against the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). "If the agitation continues the PSF might leave the alliance to prevent causing any harm to the PPP, its parent party," says a professor from Science Faculty, requesting anonymity.

A KU official says that the BS programme has an intrinsic fault. "No where in the world marks are awarded the way KU is doing. They should be performance-based-curve filtering that means we consider the type of questions. Whether they are easy or tough and mark the answer scripts accordingly."

BS mid-term exams postponed
Karachi: A meeting held at the KU on Monday has decided to reschedule the mid-term examinations that were to start from March 5. The concerned deans and chairpersons will notify the new schedule. The meeting also decided that the students admitted to BS First Year class 2007 batch presently promoted to the fifth semester will be examined according to the old grading system. The students admitted in 2008 and 2009 in BS First Year and in 2009 in BS Third Year will be examined according to the new grading system. The News